Tail between its legs, Jewish Federation of St. Louis apologizes for Chrismukkah.

On the seventh day of Hannukkah/ninth day of Christmas -- ie., last Friday -- Jewish in St. Louis, published by the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, wished its people a "Merry Chrismukkah" in an e-letter.

What with inter-religious marriage kind of a common thing these days, can you blame 'em for trying to be inclusive keep it simple?

Apparently an old-fashioned "Happy Holidays" would have sufficed, 'cause yesterday the organization extended the ol' olive branch to its peeps, having decided that Chrismukkah was definitely not kosher.

The mea culpa reads:

We apologize for an unfortunate lapse in judgement, which was offensive and troubling to many of our readers.

The notion of Chrismukkah - a creation of popular culture - refers to the blended celebrations of Hanukkah and Christmas observed by some interfaith couples and families, as well as the juxtaposition of the holidays in December.

The Jewish Federation and jewishinstlouis are firmly committed to nurturing strong, meaningful and satisfying Jewish identities and deep engagement in Jewish life. Our website provides a content rich Hannukah section with a wide variety of serious, humorous and at times irreverent articles, videos and features-oriented to helping all members of our community connect to the story, observance, symbolism and joy of the holiday.

At the same time we are aware and sensitive to the presence in our community of very many inter-faith families, (as well as in-married families) that observe the holiday season in diverse ways including the celebration of Christmas.

The message we should have conveyed is this. Our wish to each of you is that, in whatever way you celebrate the holiday season, your holidays are filled with meaning, warmth, joy and peace.

Believe it or not, "Chrismukkah" was coined in Germany back in the 1800s. It's been immortalized high and low, in a special exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Berlin and on The O.C.